RVM..Ruby on Rails..Unicorn and Nginx on Ubuntu 16.04

Installing RVM on Ubuntu 16.04

You need to use the following package:

# apt-add-repository -y ppa:rael-gc/rvm
# apt update
# apt install rvm nodejs

Create the user ror and add it to the rvm group:

# adduser ror --ingroup rvm

Add the user ror to the sudo group:

# usermod -G sudo ror

Edit the file /etc/ssh/sshd_config and on the last line add the user ror to AllowUsers:

AllowUsers root ror

Finally, restart the ssh service:

# service ssh restart

Installing Ruby on Rails on Ubuntu 16.04

Log in as the user ror and install ruby 2.1.3:

$ rvm install 2.1.3
$ rvm use 2.1.3

Verify that this version has actually been activated as follows:

ruby 2.1.3p242 (2014-09-19 revisión 47630) [x86_64-linux]

Finally, install Rails 3.2.19 while still logged in as the user ror:

$ gem install rails -v 3.2.19

Installing Unicorn on Ubuntu 16.04

First, as the user ror you must install unicorn:

$ gem install unicorn

Second, as the user root, create the various folders you will use and then make the user ror their owner:

# mkdir -p /var/ror/app/shared /var/ror/unicorn/config /var/log/unicorn /var/run/unicorn /etc/unicorn/
 # chown -R ror:rvm /var/ror/.
 # chown -R ror:rvm /var/ror/*
 # chown -R ror:rvm /var/log/unicorn/.
 # chown -R ror:rvm /var/run/unicorn/.

As the user ror again, create the file /var/ror/unicorn/config/unicorn.rb as follows:

 # set path to the application
 app_dir = File.expand_path("/var/ror/app/current", __FILE__)
 shared_dir = "#{app_dir}/shared"
 working_directory app_dir

# Set unicorn options
 worker_processes 2
 preload_app true
 timeout 30

# Path for the Unicorn socket
 listen “/var/run/unicorn/unicorn.sock”, :backlog => 64

# Set path for logging
 stderr_path “/var/log/unicorn/stderr.log”
 stdout_path “/var/log/unicorn/stdout.log”

# Set proccess id path
 pid “/var/run/unicorn/unicorn.pid”

Next, as the user root, create the file /etc/init.d/unicorn with the following content:

### BEGIN INIT INFO
 # Required-Start
 # Required-Stop
 # Default-Start
 # Default-Stop
 # Short-Description
 # Description: Enable at boot time
 ### END INIT INFO

# This is /etc/init.d/unicorn_init (without .sh)
 # init.d script for single or multiple unicorn installations. Expects at least one .conf
 # file in /etc/unicorn
 #
 # Forked from https://gist.github.com/zewelor/2623205
 # based on modified version by http://github.com/killercup
 # which based on modified version by jay@gooby.org http://github.com/jaygooby
 # which is based on http://gist.github.com/308216 by http://github.com/mguterl
 #
 ## A sample /etc/unicorn/my_app.conf
 ##
 ## RAILS_ENV=production
 ## RAILS_ROOT=/var/apps/www/my_app/current
 ## UNICORN=”/usr/local/rvm/bin/<WRAPPED_NAME>” #see rvm wrapper above
 ## APP_USER=”some_user”
 ## UNICORN_CONFIG=”/var/apps/www/my_app/shared/config/unicorn.rb”
 #
 # This configures a unicorn master for your app at /var/apps/www/my_app/current running in
 # production mode. It will read config/unicorn.rb for further set up.
 #
 # You should ensure different ports or sockets are set in each config/unicorn.rb if
 # you are running more than one master concurrently.
 #
 # If you call this script without any config parameters, it will attempt to run the
 # init command for all your unicorn configurations listed in /etc/unicorn/*.conf
 #
 # /etc/init.d/unicorn start # starts all unicorns
 #
 # If you specify a particular config, it will only operate on that one
 #
 # /etc/init.d/unicorn start my_app
 export rvmsudo_secure_path=1
 RVM_FILE_TO_SOURCE=”/usr/share/rvm/scripts/rvm”
 sig () {
 test -s “$PID” && kill -$1 `cat “$PID”`
 }

oldsig () {
 test -s “$OLD_PID” && kill -$1 `cat “$OLD_PID”`
 }

cmd () {

case $1 in
 start)
 sig 0 && echo >&2 “Already running” && return 0
 eval $CMD
 echo “Starting”
 ;;
 stop)
 sig QUIT && echo “Stopping” && return 0
 echo >&2 “Not running”
 ;;
 force-stop)
 sig TERM && echo “Forcing a stop” && return 0
 echo >&2 “Not running”
 ;;
 restart|reload)
 sig USR2 && sleep 5 && oldsig QUIT && echo “Killing old master” `cat $OLD_PID` && return 0
 echo >&2 “Couldn’t reload, starting ‘$CMD’ instead”
 eval $CMD
 ;;
 upgrade)
 sig USR2 && echo Upgraded && return 0
 echo >&2 “Couldn’t upgrade, starting ‘$CMD’ instead”
 eval $CMD
 ;;
 rotate)
 sig USR1 && echo rotated logs OK && return 0
 echo >&2 “Couldn’t rotate logs” && return 1
 ;;
 *)
 echo >&2 “Usage: $0 <start|stop|restart|upgrade|rotate|force-stop>”
 exit 1
 ;;
 esac
 }

setup () {
 CONFIG=$1

export APP_NAME=`basename $1|cut -f 1 -d ‘.’`

echo “Launching ${APP_NAME}”

if [ -z $APP_USER ]; then
 if [ `/bin/egrep -i “^${APP_NAME}” /etc/passwd|wc -l` -eq 1 ]; then
 export APP_USER=$APP_NAME
 else
 echo “The is no user defined in ${CONFIG}, and the is no user in the system called ${APP_NAME}”
 return 1
 fi
 fi

if [ -z $RAILS_ROOT ]; then
 if [ -d “/home/${APP_USER}/www/current” ]; then
 export RAILS_ROOT=”/home/${APP_USER}/www/current”
 else
 echo “Rails root is not defined in ${CONFIG}”
 return 1
 fi
 fi

if [ -z $RAILS_ENV ]; then
 export RAILS_ENV=”production”
 fi

# If unicorn binary was not defined in config
 if [ -z “$UNICORN” ]; then
 UNICORN=”unicorn_rails”
 fi

# If unicorn config was not defined in config
 if [ -z $UNICORN_CONFIG ]; then
 UNICORN_CONFIG=${RAILS_ROOT}/config/unicorn/${RAILS_ENV}.rb
 fi

cd $RAILS_ROOT || return 1
 export PID=$RAILS_ROOT/tmp/pids/unicorn.pid
 export OLD_PID=”$PID.oldbin”

CMD=”rvmsudo -u ${APP_USER} ${UNICORN} -E ${RAILS_ENV} -c ${UNICORN_CONFIG} -D”
 return 0
 }

# either run the start/stop/reload/etc command for every config under /etc/unicorn
 # or just do it for a specific one

# $1 contains the start/stop/etc command
 # $2 if it exists, should be the specific config we want to act on
 source $RVM_FILE_TO_SOURCE

if [ $2 ]; then
 . /etc/unicorn/$2.conf
 setup “/etc/unicorn/$2.conf”
 if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
 exit
 fi
 cmd $1
 else
 for CONFIG in /etc/unicorn/*.conf; do
 # clean variables from prev configs
 unset APP_USER
 unset RAILS_ROOT
 unset RAILS_ENV
 unset UNICORN
 unset UNICORN_CONFIG

# import the variables
 . $CONFIG
 setup $CONFIG
 if [ $? -eq 1 ]; then
 continue
 fi
 # run the start/stop/etc command
 cmd $1
 done
 fi

And make it executable as follows:

# chmod a+rx /etc/init.d/unicorn

Now create the file /etc/unicorn/unicorn.conf with the following content:

RAILS_ENV=production
RAILS_ROOT=/var/ror/app/current
UNICORN="/usr/share/rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.3/bin/unicorn" #see rvm wrapper above
APP_USER="ror"
UNICORN_CONFIG="/var/ror/unicorn/config/unicorn.rb"

Finally, enable unicorn at every startup:

# update-rc.d unicorn defaults
# update-rc.d unicorn enable

Installing and configuring NGINX on Ubuntu 16.04

First, install Nginx:

# apt install nginx

Edit the file /etc/nginx/nginx.conf and add the following to the HTTP section:

upstream rails {
 # Path to Unicorn socket file
 server unix:/var/run/unicorn/unicorn.sock fail_timeout=0;
 }

Then delete the default vhost configuration file:

# rm /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/default

And create a new one named midominio.com with the following content:

server {
 listen 80 default;
 server_name midominio.com;

root /var/ror/app/current;

try_files $uri/index.html $uri @rails;

location @rails {
 proxy_pass http://rails;
 proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;
 proxy_set_header Host $http_host;
 proxy_redirect off;
 }

error_page 500 502 503 504 /500.html;
 client_max_body_size 4G;
 keepalive_timeout 10;
 }

Next, enable the site and restart Nginx:

# ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/midominio.com /etc/nginx/sites-enabled
# service nginx restart

Configuring logrotate
Create the file /etc/logrotate.d/unicorn with the following content:

/var/log/unicorn/*.log {
 daily
 missingok
 rotate 14
 compress
 dateext
 delaycompress
 notifempty
 copytruncate
 create 0666 ror rvm
 maxage 14
 }

Optionally, you can install a demo app to check that everything works correctly. We explain how to do this.

Installing a demo app

Log in as the user ror and run the following commands:

$ cd /var/ror/app
$ rails new current
$ cd current
$ rails generate scaffold Task title:string note:text
$ RAILS_ENV=production rake db:migrate

Then start unicorn as the user root:

# /etc/init.d/unicorn start

Finally, check that everything works correctly by visiting the URL:
http://ip.de.vm/public
That's it, you can now deploy your application in the /var/ror/app/current folder